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AND PLACE IN NATIONAL AND REGIONAL ATLASES. METHODOLOGICAL CONSIDERATIONS AND PRACTICAL USE EXEMPLIFIED BY NEW ATLASES FROM THE EASTERN PART OF

Peter

Austrian Institute of East and Southeast European Studies,

Abstract

National and regional atlases are mainly conceived for national use, but as map works with a representative function they address, in contrast to school atlases, also an international audience. Taking this into account, many of them use for titles, legends and explanatory texts not only the , but also one or more world or are published in different language editions.

The use of a second or third editorial language has, however, implications on the treatment of place names, especially on the use of exonyms. Another aspect deriving from the atlases’ representative function is the reflection of minority names.

The paper investigates into relevant practices applied in recently published national and regional atlases from the eastern part of Europe and offers some methodological considerations as regards the use of more than one editorial language, the use of exonyms in this case as well the use of minority names.

1 INTRODUCTION

National and regional atlases are mainly conceived for national use. But as map works with a representative function they address, in contrast to school atlases, also an international audience. Taking this into account, many of them use for titles, legends and explanatory texts not only the national language, but also one or more world languages or are published in different language editions. The use of a second or even more editorial languages has, however, implications on the treatment of place names.

As soon as the atlas addresses more than one (the own) language community, the justification for the use of exonyms for geographical objects outside the own is not as obvious. But it could also be argued that the use of exonyms should be extended to all editorial languages and that even for objects within the own country exonyms of the editorial languages should be presented.

The United Group of Experts on Geographical Names (UNGEGN), the international authority in the field of geographic names, defines in its glossary an exonym as the “ used in a specific language for a geographical feature situated outside the area where that language has official status, and differing in its form 1 from the name used in the or languages of the area where the geographical feature is situated.” (Glossary 2002, p. 10). UNGEGN recommends to reduce the use exonyms, especially in international (Statutes... 2002, pp. 72ff). In practice, however, exonyms are widely used, in particular by world languages.

1 The definition continues with “Examples: is the English exonym for Warszawa; Londres is French for ; Mailand is German for Milano. The officially romanized endonym Moskva for Ìîñêâà is not an exonym, nor is the form , while Peking is an exonym. The United Nations recommends minimizing the use of exonyms in international usage.” (p. 10)

Another rather sensitive aspect deriving from the national and regional atlases’ representative function is the reflection of official minority names. Isn’ a national or regional atlas the appropriate means of communicating to an international audience the full scope of cultural identities within a country – at least of cultural groups having official status and speaking a language officially recognized?

Let us again see what UNGEGN recommends. Recommendation II/36 titled “Problems of minority languages” says “....that, where possible, the in question, in consultation with native speakers of the : (a) Adopt a common orthography for all geographical names of the minority language; (b) Use that orthography for the standardization of the place names in the minority language in their territory; (c) Publish the standardized names in their official maps and national gazetteers” (Statutes... 2002, pp. 108f).

Again, practice contrasts widely from UN recommendations. Even in countries with an otherwise advanced minority legislation the rendering of minority names on official maps and also in official or semi-official national and regional atlases is lagging behind. This is due to the fact that the most important function of a place name is not its semantic meaning even when this meaning is transparent like with Schönbrunn or Red River (which is anyway rare enough), but its function as a symbol or a brand. Place names do not convey in the strict sense information like a sentence or a map do. Similar to coats of arms, flags and logos, place names rather represent certain ideas and notions. Their symbolic power is strongest on maps. Maps commit an impression of a phenomenon’s spatial distribution at one glance. They convey an impression of the minority names’ territorial spread and outline “the territory of a minority”. It is for this very reason that the use of minority place names on official topographical maps and in atlases is politically sensible and is very often among the last rights granted to minorities. It arouses with majority (or rather their political representatives) all the animosities and fears which always appear, when minorities wish to confine their territory: fears of , autonomism, , .

In the chapters to follow, by the examples of some recently published national and regional atlases from the eastern (former Communist) part of Europe it will be investigated into (1) the use of languages other than the national language by the atlas in general, (2) the use of exonyms and (3) the use of place names of linguistic minorities. In conclusion some methodological remarks regarding the use of languages and place names in national and regional atlases will be made.

The examples selected are (S 1) the Geographical Atlas of [Geografski atlas Slovenije], 1998, as well as (S 1a) its smaller English version titled National Atlas of Slovenia, Ljubljana 2001, (C 1) A Concise Atlas of the of & of the Republic of Bosnia and Hercegovina, Zagreb 1993, (C 2) the Large Atlas of Croatia [Veliki atlas Hrvatske], Zagreb 2002, (PL) the Atlas of Lower and Opole [Atlas Úl¹ska dolnego i opolskiego], Wrocùaw 1997, and (R) – Historical-geographical Atlas [România. Atlas istorico-geografic], Bucureºti 1996.

2 SOME CHARACTERISTICS OF THESE ATLASES AND THEIR USE OF LANGUAGES

S 1: The Geographical Atlas of Slovenia in its large Slovene version has been edited by a publisher and two major geographical institutes as a common effort of Slovenian as well as related disciplines. Its obvious intention is to document and represent a young , which became for the first time independent in 1991, to its own citizens. It was favourably welcomed by the domestic market and became part of almost every educated Slovenian household’s library. On 360 A3 pages, after a short series of topographic maps in the 1: 300,000 scale, thematic maps in 1: 750,000 as the main scale and with thematic representation restricted to Slovenia (“insular maps”) are accompanied by texts, photos, satellite images and diagrams and make up for a rather opulent and easily comprehensible mapwork. The atlas is exclusively monolingual – in titles, map legends and texts.

S 1a: For international use three years later the same geographical institutes, but another publisher edited a smaller, concise English version in A4 format and with main maps in the 1 million scale. It contains on 191 pages almost all the thematic maps, but omits the topographic section and has much less texts, photos and diagrams. Also this atlas is exclusively monolingual.

C1: The Concise Atlas of the Republic of Croatia & of the Republic of Bosnia and Hercegovina was published by the Lexicographical Institute in Zagreb, a state-owned publishing house, exclusively in – obviously to present Croatia as a newly independent country to the outside world. This happened in a very critical situation, when a third of Croatia was not under the control of Zagreb, when neighbouring Bosnia and Hercegovina was a theatre of and when the Miloševiã regime in and not very much less the international community exerted some pressure on Croatia. On 159 A4 pages, after an extensive topographic map series in the 1: 500,000 scale, thematic maps in the main scale 1: 2 million, but many of them smaller and historical, are combined with explanatory texts. Thematic representation is mostly confined to Croatia, in some cases also Bosnia and Hercegovina is included.

C 2: The Large Atlas of Croatia has been edited by a private Croatian publisher involving some prominent geographers. On 483 pages in A4 format it is mainly a topographical atlas in the 1: 100,000 scale, but supplemented by extensive texts and photo documentations as well as by thematic maps (main scale 1: 2,200,000; thematic representation confined to Croatia) on some basic features. It is conceived for domestic use and applies exclusively Croatian in titles, legends and texts.

PL: The Atlas of Lower and Opole Silesia may be regarded as an indicator that Poland is again conceiving herself as a country with distinct regional identities based on cultural traditions and historical units, after in the Communist period historical and cultural identities were disguised and calmed down as much as possible. The atlas highlights a substantially affected by exchange and of which one could have assumed that it had lost its former identity together with its former population. The atlas has been edited by the University of Wrocùaw and the Wrocùaw department of the Polish Academy of Sciences involving the of modern Silesian cartographers, geographers, historians and environmental scientists. On 125 pages in a larger than A3 format it renders in a very scientific manner on 1: 500,000 as the largest scale, but also on many maps in smaller scales, the canon of regional geography, but with a strong focus on environment. What is extremely remarkable with this atlas is that it does not intend – after all that happened (war, population exchange) – to construct a new, reduced to Polish identity of the region, but that it integrates all former identities. This is also underlined by titles, legends and explanatory texts in three languages: Polish, English and German. While legends on the map face are explained only in Polish, corresponding legends in English and German can be found at the reverse side.

R: The Historical-geographical Atlas of Romania has been published by the Geographical Institute of the Romanian Academy of Sciences and can be understood as a kind of post-Communist update and amendment to the large Atlas of Romania, published by the Academy in 1970, to re-adjust the country’s position in the new post-Communist scene. Prominent historians and geographers from the whole of Romanian academia have authored the maps. On 157 pages in the A4 format by thematic maps in the main scale of ca. 1: 2.2 million mostly historical and ethnological features are highlighted, while the usual geographical canon of a national atlas is reduced to a minimum. Only with historical maps thematic representation covers the whole map face. Substantial texts accompany the map sheets. The atlas uses four languages (Romanian, French, English, German) in titles, legends and texts. All texts are fully translated. Legends appear on the map only in one language (mostly Romanian, but with facsimiles of historical maps also in an other language) and are translated into the other three languages on the reverse side.

Thus, the selection comprises a set of rather different atlases: atlases from four different countries (Slovenia, Croatia, Poland, Romania), the modern and popular version of a typical national atlas (S 1) as well as a classical regional atlas (PL), variants of national atlases with a larger topographic and historical section (C 1), a very extensive topographical section (C 2) and a very extensive historical section (R), atlases for domestic use (S 1, C 2), international use (S 1a, C 1) and both domestic and international use (PL, R), monolingual (S 1, S 1a, C 1, C 2) and multilingual (PL, R) atlases.

3 USE OF EXONYMS

S 1: The monolingual Slovene Geographical Atlas of Slovenia practises an extensive use of Slovene exonyms for geographical features outside Slovenia. On a “physical map of Europe” in the 1: 15 million scale (pp. 14-15) probably all physical objects (landforms, waters, islands, caps, natural landscapes) as well as cultural landscapes, for which the has exonyms in current use, are indicated by exonyms. This includes composita with generics translated into Slovene (e.g. rt Finisterre for Cap Finisterre [Cabo de Finisterre]) and morphological adaptations to Slovene (e.g. Loara for Loire, Rona for Rhône or Šampanja for Champagne) as well as different (e.g. Ture for Tauern), although not necessarily differing in . Larger cities featuring on the same map for orientation are also indicated by exonyms, e.g. Lizbona for [Lisboa], Pariz for , Dunaj for Vienna [Wien] or Carigrad for Istanbul [Ýstanbul]. Also endonyms of very prestigious languages like English or French are frequently substituted by Slovene exonyms. No attempt is made to relate the exonyms to endonyms, e.g. by adding endonyms in .

On its “political map of Europe” in the same scale (pp. 16-17) the atlas uses exclusively Slovene exonyms only for country names and physical features, while Slovene exonyms of capitals and other larger cities are added to endonyms in smaller letters. The latter practise (endonym plus Slovene exonym in smaller letters) is applied to all geographical features on a geographical map in the 1: 3 million scale showing the wider neighbourhood of Slovenia (p. 18) as well as in a topographical survey over Slovenia (1: 500,000, pp. 22-23) and a map series in the 1: 300,000 scale (pp. 24ff).

S 1a: The only map of the monolingual English version featuring also territories outside Slovenia is a topographical survey over Slovenia in the 1: 1 million scale (p. 21). In contrast to the topographical survey over Slovenia in the Slovene atlas version it uses English country names (e.g. instead of Österreich and Avstrija) and the English name for the Adriatic Sea, but the endonym and the Slovene exonym in smaller letters for all other features. apart from country names do not occur (e.g. Julian Alps for Julijske Alpe), not even translations of generic terms. Instead, a glossary of “geographical terms” in the atlases’ appendix (pp. 185-187) translates transparent Slovene geographical terms not only into English, but also into German, French and Spanish. This enables the reader to conclude that Slovenske gorice means Slovenian Hills and that Bela Krajina means White Land. This method of translating transparent Slovene geographical terms into several major languages may be regarded as expanding the atlases’ use beyond the English language community.

C 1: The monolingual English Concise Atlas of the Republic of Croatia & of the Republic of Bosnia and Hercegovina conceived for international use indicates on a political map of Europe (pp. 10-11) countries, islands, peninsulas, caps, landforms and waters by English exonyms (seas are also named in English), while capitals and other larger cities are indicated by the endonym in the first position and the English exonym in brackets, e.g. Roma (). are not used.

On a geographical survey over Croatia and Bosnia-Hercegovina in the 1: 1,750,000 scale (pp. 12-13), countries are indicated by their English exonyms (e.g. , , Slovenia), while settlements are named by endonyms in the first and the Croatian exonym in the second position (e.g. Pécs/Peèuh, /Trst). A Croatian exonym, however, is only indicated with larger cities. The Adriatic Sea is named Croatian in the first and English (in brackets) in the second position. The same principles are also applied to the series of topographic maps in the 1: 500,000 scale (pp. 16ff), should territories of foreign countries be portrayed. Even there, smaller settlements in neighbouring countries appear without Croatian exonyms.

C 2: The monolingual Croatian Large Atlas of Croatia uses exclusively official names except on one single map showing the sheet line system of the topographic map series and at the sheet margins of the topographic map series itself. There, foreign countries are named by the endonym in the first position and the Croatian exonym in the second (e.g. Italia/Italija). On the map showing the sheet line system, in Austria and northern Italy - rather unconventionally - with settlements Slovene (!) exonyms are added to endonyms (e.g. Klagenfurt/Celovec, /Viden), while waters are named exclusively Slovene (e.g. Vrbsko jezero for Wörther See, Nadiža for Natisone, Zilja for Gail). This may well have happened by mistake.

The topographical map series 1: 100,000 renders on sheets covering neighbouring countries very precisely the official place names systems including standardized minority names, but with the exception of Hungary. This means to show in parts of Slovenia also the Hungarian and Italian minority names and in parts of Italy the Slovene. In Hungary, where minority names, even Croatian minority names, have also been standardized, minority names are missing.

PL: While in the Atlas of Lower and Opole Silesia map sections focused on Lower and Opole Silesia show exclusively endonyms except Polish country names (this refers to Poland, the and ), two surveys over Poland and its location in Central Europe (pp. 3) in the 1: 3 and 1: 5 million scale, respectively, represent also other categories of : with waters as well as cities the Polish exonym is added to the endonym in brackets, islands are named exclusively in Polish (e.g. Wyspy Fryzyjskie for Frisian Islands [] or Rugia for Rügen). Seas and other maritime features are also named Polish.

R: The quadrilingual Historical-geographical Atlas of Romania can in respect to the rendering of exonyms only be classified according to its first four maps showing Romania’s location in the world (plate 1) and in Europe (plate 2) as well as Romania’s general geographical (plate 3) and administrative (plate 4) structure, while the comprehensive part of historical maps (partly facsimiles) must be regarded under different aspects and cartographic representation on geographical maps is restricted to Romania. These first four maps show the common attitude to use exclusively Romanian exonyms for country names and land forms, Romanian names also for seas and other maritime features, while rivers are named in the endonymic form and with larger cities or settlements nearby the Romanian (plates 3 and 4) the endonym is given the first and the Romanian exonym the second position (e.g. Wien/Viena, Tutrakan/Turtucaia).

3 USE OF MINORITY NAMES

S 1: The Geographical Atlas of Slovenia represents not on its small-scale survey maps and not on its thematic maps (many of which are not named at all), but on its larger-scale topographic maps (1: 500,000, 1: 300,000) all official and standardized place names of linguistic minorities in Slovenia. This means that in the Prekmurje with an autochthonous Hungarian minority Hungarian and in the Slovenian section of the Adriatic coast with an autochthonous Italian minority Italian settlement names are added to the Slovene names after a slash (e.g. Lendava/Lendva, /Capodistria). Other categories of features, e.g. waters or landforms, are not affected by this regulation. Names of other linguistic minorities in Slovenia have not been standardized, since they are smaller or just migrant communities.

S 1a: The smaller English version adds on its single topographical map in the 1: million scale no minority names. But the thematic map on Slovene (p. 119) indicates the most prominent settlements in the minority regions bilingually: Lendava/Lendva, Koper/Capodistria, Izola/Isola, Piran/Pirano. These minority names can, however, not be found in the place names index.

C 1: The monolingual English Concise Atlas of the Republic of Croatia & of the Republic of Bosnia and Hercegovina does not represent minority names in Croatia, neither on its small-scale and larger-scale topographic, nor on its thematic maps, although Italian was (at the time when the atlas was published) and is an official minority language in western [Istra] and Italian settlement names have been standardized.

C 2: The monolingual Croatian Large Atlas of Croatia respects Italian settlement names in western Istria very well, already on its small-scale survey map showing the sheet line system of the topographic map series as well as on the topographic maps in the scale 1: 100,000. The Italian name is set below the Croatian name in slightly smaller letters. Other categories of geographical objects (e.g. waters, landforms) are not affected. Names of other linguistic minorities have so far not been standardized in Croatia.

PL: Only an act passed in January 2005 opened the way for the standardization of minority names in Poland. The Atlas of Lower and Opole Silesia, published in 1997, met therefore a situation, in which official or standardized minority names did not yet exist. In consequence, on Polish territory no other than Polish names are used.

R: At the time when the Romanian atlas was published (1996), no other than Romanian names had official status or were standardized in Romania. Only in 2001 a place names act was passed standardizing over a thousand minority settlement names. It is therefore no surprise that the Atlas shows only Romanian names in Romania.

4 SYNPOSIS OF CHARACTERISTICS ASCERTAINED

Use of exonyms Use of standardized minority names Atlas national/ for language(s) for for physical for on small- on larger- regional international/ used countries features settlements scale and scale domestic use thematic topographic maps maps S 1 national domestic Slovene on small- on small- mostly no yes scale maps: scale maps: added to only only endonyms exonyms; exonyms; on larger- on larger- scale maps: scale maps: added to added to endonyms endonyms S 1a national international English English Slovene Slovene on a single - exonyms exonyms exonyms thematic added to added to map endonyms endonyms C 1 national international English English on small- on small- no no exonyms scale maps: scale maps: English English exonyms; exonyms on larger- added to scale maps: endonyms; English on larger- exonyms scale maps: added to Croatian endonyms exonyms added to endonyms C 2 national domestic Croatian added to on small- on small- on a small- yes endonyms scale maps: scale maps: scale Slovene (!) Slovene (!) topographic, exonyms; exonyms but not on on larger- added to thematic scale maps: endonyms; maps endonyms on larger- scale maps: endonyms PL regional international + Polish, Polish on 2 small- on 2 small- - - domestic English, exonyms scale survey scale survey German maps: islands maps: - only in Polish Polish, rivers exonyms - Polish added to exonyms endonyms added to endonyms R national international + Romanian, Romanian Landforms: Romanian - - domestic French, exonyms Romanian exonyms English, exonyms, added to German rivers: endonyms endonyms

5 METHODOLOGICAL CONCLUSIONS

5.1 Treatment of exonyms/endonyms

As regards methods related to the treatment of exonyms/endonyms in national and regional atlases a principal distinction has to be made between monolingual and multilingual atlases, i.e. between atlases using one single editorial language in titles, legends and texts and atlases using more than one, notwithstanding whether they address a domestic or an international audience.

(1) In monolingual atlases either for domestic or for international use it is recommendable to use exonyms corresponding to the editorial language, provided that these are exonyms in current use and not historical exonyms. This makes an atlas linguistically homogeneous and information easier accessible for readers of the editorial language (For a comprehensive list of benefits of exonym use see JORDAN 2000).

a. This means that an atlas in Slovene (like S 1) or Croatian (C 2) for domestic use is recommended to use Slovene and Croatian exonyms, respectively. This is indeed practised by S 1, but only to a minor extent by C 2.

b. This means that for a Slovenian (like S 1a) or a Croatian atlas in English (C 1) for international use it would be justified to use English exonyms. This is practised by C 1 rather than by S 1a.

c. English (and not the national language) as the atlases’ editorial language would also justify English exonyms in current use for geographical features in the editorial country, i.e. in Slovenia and Croatia. This is not practised by any of the two atlases in question.

d. However, the recommendation to use exonyms does not mean to exclude endonyms. The official name remains always important, even if it is difficult to pronounce for the editorial language’s reader or if it is just transliterated from another script. It is therefore recommended to add the endonym, whenever an exonym is used. This refers also to country names. The endonym can be placed below the exonym. When the reader meets a couple of names, he/she knows that the upper one is the exonym. When he/she finds only one name, he/she understands that this is the endonym and an exonym is not given. The principle of presenting exonym plus endonym is practised in C 2, while S 1 renders endonyms only in larger scales, S 1a in other names categories but country names and C 1 only in other names categories than country names and in larger scales.

(2) Multilingual atlases for domestic and international use address a multilingual audience. This has the consequence that either exonyms are to be avoided or exonyms of all editorial languages are to be used simultaneously. The latter may, however, easily overburden a map, especially, when in addition to the endonym three (PL) or even four (R) exonyms are to be displayed. This principle cannot be traced in any of the two atlases in question (PL, R). Both of them use at least partly exonyms in only one of the editorial languages (the national language of the editorial country).

5.2 Treatment of minority names

(1) Place names used by linguistic minorities are indispensable in national and regional atlases since these atlases are to provide for a complex, comprehensive and representative picture of a country or region. They are to convey an impression of the cultural and to symbolize the presence of cultural subgroups (For all the reasons supporting the use of minority names see ORMELING 1983).

(2) It may, however, be justified to confine the use to names belonging to official minority languages and/or to standardized names, i.e. to names approved by the relevant public authority. Not confining the use to official/standardized names would mean to enter a field of never ending discussions and unsolved problems.

(3) It could also be regarded appropriate to restrict the representation of minority names in national and regional atlases to larger-scale topographical maps and to thematic maps showing a relevant topic (e.g. languages, ethnic structures).

These principles can well be traced in S 1 and C 2, but not at all in C 1. The Polish and the Romanian atlas are both out of obligo, since no standardized minority names existed, when these atlases were published.

6 REFERENCES

A Concise Atlas of the Republic of Croatia & of the Republic of Bosnia and Hercegovina, ed. by The Miroslav Krleža Lexicographical Institute, red. by Mladen Klemenèiã, Zagreb 1993.

Atlas Úl¹ska dolnego i opolskiego, ed. by Uniwersytet Wrocùawski, Polska Akademia Nauk – Oddzial we Wrocùawiu, red. by Wladyslaw Pawlak, Wrocùaw 1997.

Geografski atlas Slovenije. Država v prostoru in èasu, ed. by DZS, d.d., Založništvo literature, Inštitut za geografijo, Geografski inštitut Antona Melika, Ljubljana 1998.

Glossary of Terms for the Standardization of Geographical Names, ed. by Department of Economic and Social Affairs – Statistics Division, United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names, United Nations, New York 2000.= UN-Document ST/ESA/STAT/SER.M/85, 2002.

JORDAN, Peter: The Importance of Using Exonyms – Pleading for a moderate and politically sensitive use. In: SIEVERS, Jörn (ed.): Second International Symposium on Geographical Names “GeoNames 2000” am Main, 28-30 March 2000. = Mitteilungen des Bundesamtes für Kartographie und Geodäsie, vol. 19, pp. 87- 92.

JORDAN, Peter: National and Regional Atlases as an Expression of National/Regional Identities: New Examples from Post-Communist Europe. In: The Cartographic Journal, vol. 41, 2004, 2, pp. 150-166.

National Atlas of Slovenia, ed. by Anton Melik Geographical Institute, Institute of Geography, Ljubljana 2001.

ORMELING, Ferjan jun.: Minority Toponyms on Maps. The Rendering of Linguistic Minority Toponyms on Topographic Maps of Western Europe. Utrecht 1983. = Utrechtse geografische studies, 30.

România. Atlas istorico-geografic, ed. by Academia Românã, Institutul de geografie, Bucureºti 1996.

Statutes, Rules of Procedure and Resolutions on Geographical Names, ed. by United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names (UNGEGN), Working Group on Evaluation and Implementation, 2002.

PETER JORDAN: VITAE

Born 15/11/1949 in Hermagor//Austria. 1970-1979 studied geography and at the University of Vienna with a specialisation on cartography. Doctor thesis on "The Problem of International Symbol Standardisation in Cartography” supervised by Erik Arnberger, PhD 9/7/1979.

Since 1977 working at the Austrian Institute of East and Southeast European Studies as a map editor of the Atlas of the Danubian Countries under Josef Breu as the editor-in-chief. 1979-1989 continued cooperation in the Atlas of the Danubian Countries as a map editor, partly also as thematic author of its maps. Since 1979 Deputy Head, Geographical Department of the Austrian Insitute of East and Southeast European Studies. Geographic research on the impact of tourism on the northern Croatian coast. Publications in the fields of the of tourism and transportation, regional geography of Central Europe and the Danubian countries, cartographic semiotics and toponomastics. Member of the Austrian Board on Geographic Names, Austrian delegate to the sessions of the United Nations Group of Experts on Geographic Names (UNGEGN). Numerous paper presentations, mainly on cartographic topics and on topics related to the geography of tourism and regional, political, ethnic and environmental geography of Central and . Since 1987 council member of the Austrian Institute of East and Southeast European Studies.

Since 1989 Head, Geographical Department of the Austrian Institute of East and Southeast European Studies. Concept and editor-in-chief of the Atlas of Eastern and Southeastern Europe, since 1989 published by the Austrian Institute of East and Southeast European Studies as a map series (so far 25 installments have been published). Geographical editor of the “Österreichische Osthefte”. Member of the editorial boards of the periodicals “Turizam” (Zagreb) and “Tourism and Hospitality Management” (Opatija). Intensivation and extension of research activities in and into the fields of regional, ethnic, political and environmental geography of Central and Southeastern Europe with regional focuses on former Yugoslavia and Romania.

Since 1997 Deputy Director, Austrian Institute of East and Southeast European Studies.

25/5/1998: Venia docendi (habilitation) at the University of Klagenfurt for "Geography with special regard to regional geography and cartography" after having submitted the research work "Contributions to the geography of tourism of the northern Croatian coast” followed by courses at the of Vienna, Klagenfurt, Innsbruck, Rijeka and Cluj-Napoca.

Since 2002 Director, Austrian Institute of East and Southeast European Studies.

Fields of expertise: Geography of tourism, geography of transportation, political and cultural geography, atlas cartography, cartographic methods, toponomastics.

Current scientific functions: Director, Austrian Institute of East and Southeast European Studies; Head, Geographical Department; Editor-in-chief, Atlas of Eastern and Southeastern Europe; Lecturer, Universities of Vienna, Klagenfurt, Cluj-Napoca and Rijeka; Vice-Chair, International Cartographic Association (ICA), Commission on National and Regional Atlases; Austrian Delegate, United Nations Group of Experts on Geographic Names (UNGEGN); Co-convenor; Working Group on Exonyms, United Nations Group of Experts on Geographic Names; Corresponding Member, Permanent Committee on Geographical Names (StAGN); Board member, Austrian Geographical (ÖGG); Deputy chair, Austrian Board on Geographic Names (AKO); Member, German Cartographic Society, Atlas Commission; Member, Advisory Board, Institut für donauschwäbische Geschichte und Landeskunde, Tübingen; Member of the editorial boards of the periodicals "Turizam", Zagreb, "Tourism and Hospitality Management", Opatija, "Hrvatski geografski glasnik", Zagreb; Head (together with Lukas Birsak), Working group "Thematic and school cartography (including atlas cartography)", Austrian Cartographic Commission, Austrian Geographical Society